Document B8Xebqb2NGM5R49ey7VZD25xw

FILE NAME Quigley QUIG DATE 1973 DOC QUIG047 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Newspaper Article RIP CONFEREES STUDY CONFEREES HAZARD 123 From 13 Countries Find That Lethal Mineral Is | | Present Everywhere | -_-_eor- By BRODY DURHAM More 1 | thani 125 scientists from 13 coun trics gathered here in the midst of tite tobacco country last weeki to grapple with an urgent pubj lic health ques on What risk~fl does the gene public face from the ingestion of asbestos mineral of a thousand uses whose potentially potentially lethal fibers pervade the Fuman ment environ In three days of intense dis- cussion and debate no finali conclusions were reached a few worrisome preliminary find- ings were presented and hun- dreds of yet unanswered questions were raised facts unchal Only two went water- lenged that abestos is every- where the air in ways in drinking water in food and beverages drugs and talcum powder and that wheni inhaled in large quantities as- dangerous bestos is causing in- lung capacitating disease and highly lethal cancers the The conference by called National Institute of Environ- mental Health Sciences was prompted largely by the discov- ery earlier this year that thei drinking water of Duluth Minn and other cities on Lake Su- perior was heavily contaminated with asbestos the presumed re- sult pollution by a mining company that has been dump ing 67,000 tons of rocky waste 171 into the years lake each day for to The Government is seeking end the dumping of these asbestos containing wastes intoj Lake Superiorin an action cur rently being heard in United Stater District Courtin Minnea- polis but what can and whati should it do about the countless other sources of asbestos con- tamination tamination classi Asbestos represents a sic problem that our modern industrial society will face over Dr. and over again remarked David Rail director of the Na- tional Institute It's a vital substance so we can't ban it but there's about ef fects its a growing concerni possible health And since the health effects of asbestos often do not show after 30 up until 20 to initial exposure years even if we stop all asbestos exposure t,,>day we will continue to see evidence of disease well incol the next century said Dr. Rob ert Burrell a microbiologist at e West Virginia University } Virtually all the reliable in- formation about the harm as- bestos can wreak on the hu man body is derived from the experience of asbestos workers who have inhaled large quan- tities of the fibers in addition to succumbing to the chronic lung disease as- bestosis these workers are far more likely than the general population to die from lung can cer and mesothelioma an in- curable cancer that affects the lining of the chest or abdomen Recently Dr. Irving J. Seli- koff who directs a Federally . sponsored asbgestos researchi center at Mount Sinai Medical Center reported that asbestos workers also had an increased risk of developing cancer of the gastrointestinal tract An estimated 100,000 new cases of gastrointestinal cancer will be diagnosed in the United year States next and althou,, h it is the nation's most common type of internal cancer cause remains unknown its A big question explored at last week's meeting was how inhaled asbestos might damage the digestive tract Dr. Sidney Lasikin of New York University noted that 25 to 50 per cent of innaled particles were likely to be coughed up and then . swallowed consumptionl Intensive studies of the fects of asbestos consumptionl on a variety of experimental animals are just getting under way But preliminary findings presented to the meeting indi- cate that fibrous mineral can pass through the wall of the small intestine get into the bloodstream and lymph system and become widely distributed throughout the body organs including the brain Dr. Selikoff said that an un- expectedly large number of asbestos workers he has been studying had died of brain tumors although the significance of this observation was not yet clear A pilot study conducted in Canada resulted in kidney and chest tumors in three of nine rats fed asbestos mixed with corn oil although none of the animals given corn oil alone developed cancer Dr. Gerhard Volkheimer of Berlin reported that parucies similar to asbestos fibers were pcubed between cells of the strointestinal strointestinal tract much more rapidly after the consump tion of caffeine or nicotine He said that persorbed particles could be found in breast milk and could cross the placenta to the fetus Dr. John Galdsmith of the Na- tional that Cancer Institute urged all unnecessary sources of asbestos be eliminated To- ward this end Science in the the Center for Public Interest and the Environmental Defense Fund have requested a ban on asbestos filters used to process many beverages and drugs and elimination of asbestos from talc used in foods as well as in cosmetic powder 09 13096